Clip case



R. W. RATLIFF Sept. 2, 1958 CLIP CASE Filed April 2, 1956 FIG.

ATTORNEY United States Patent CLIP CASE Ronald W. Ratliff, Burbank,Calif.

Application April 2, 1956, Serial No. 575,427

1 Claim. (Cl. 28144) This invention relates to an improved clip case andhas for one of its principal objects the provision of means wherebysheets of paper of various types and sizes may be easily and readilywritten upon even under varied and diflicult conditions, and furthermeans whereby such sheets can be readily, simply and safely stored forfuture reference.

One of the important objects of this invention is the provision of adevice of the class described which will be particularly valuable topolice oflicers and others engaged in out-door activities which includethe intermittent preparation of written reports and which will renderthe making of such reports much more easy than heretofore consideredpossible, while at the same time assuring to a great degree the properpreservation of the same with little or no possibility of their becominglost, misplaced, or damaged due to weather or other conditions.

Still another object of the invention resides in the production of acombination case and writing board wherein papers to be written upon aresecurely held in desired position on a firm surface and where additionalpapers, books, booklets or other similar elements or materials aremaintained as a suitable reserve and without fear of loss.

Yet another object of the invention resides in a provision of acombination clip case, Writing board, book and pencil container whichshall be simple of construction, readily manufactured, suitable forvaried and various purposes with little or no change and which will becapable of withstanding long and hard wear.

Other and further important objects of the invention will be apparentfrom the disclosures in the accompanying drawings and followingspecification.

The invention, in a preferred form, is illustrated in the drawings andhereinafter more fully described.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved clip case of thisinvention.

Figure 2 is likewise a perspective view showing the case from its upperend and with its lid open.

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on the plane of the line 3-3 ofFigure 2 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Figure 4 is a vertical section on the line 4-4 of Figure 2 looking inthe direction indicated and illustrating other details.

Figure 5 is an enlarged section showing the improved hinge constructionfor the lid of the clip case of this invention and taken on the line 5-5of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is an enlarged exploded view on the line 66 of Figure 2 showinga preferred form of locking means for the lid.

As shown in the drawings:

The reference numerals 10 indicate generally the main body portion ofthe improved clip case of this invention, the same being preferably inthe form of a rectangular parallelopipedon having a bottom and foursides.

A lid 12, conforming in size to the body 10, is joined ice at 14,preferably by a piano hinge or the like, to the upper edge of one end ofthe body, and the lid itself has depending flanges 16 which fit over andform a relatively tight seal with the upper edges 18 of the sides of thecase 10, which upper edges are bent slightly inwardly as best shown inFigure 3.

A spring clip 20 of usual construction is fastened in any suitablemanner to the upper outer face of the lid 12, as shown in Figure 1, andthis is for the purpose of securely holding and retaining a sheet orsheets of paper or other material which is to be written on or otherwiseinscribed by the user of the case.

The upper edge 22 of the top end 24 of the case 10 is bent inwardlysimilarly to the upper edges 18 of the sides, and this is indented inone or more places as shown at 30 in Figures 2 and 6. These indentationsare adapted to receive corresponding protuberances 32 formed in theupper or outer end piece of the lid 12 and the proportions of theserespective depressions and protuberances are such that taken with theresilience of the material of the case, which may be of metal or othersuitable material, a snap-lock effect is accomplished which provides a'substantial container normally firmly closed but which can be openedwith little or no effort when the occasion arises.

Either integral with or fastened to the body of the case 10 is a furthercompartment 40 which is preferably in two sections, separated by apartition 42 and each of these sections is likewise in the form of arectangular parallelopipedon open at the normal upper end of the case 10and closed at the other end as best shown at 43 in Figure 4. Suitablecut-away portions 44 are provided as illustrated in Figure 2 for theready gripping and removal of books, pamphlets, circulars or other itemswhich may have been deposited in the compartments of the case 40.

The upper or main case 10 is likewise provided with a partition 50 whichis usually in the form of an angle, as illustrated in Figure 4 and whichthereby provides an additional space for suitable segregation andhandling of pencils or other writing materials, clips, miscellaneoussmall items and the like.

The piano hinge 14 is usually a separate element having flanges 60 and62 which are fastened by rivets 64 to corresponding portions of the case10 and lid 12, all as best shown in Figure 5. However, it will beobvious that the hinge, partition, locking, and other constructions maybe changed along with the actual dimensions of the various parts inorder to meet different requirements when, as, and if such requirementspresent themselves.

It will be evident that herein is provided a clip case which combines ina single unit substantially all the elements necessary for proper,efiicient, and secure handling of all sorts of documents, reports,notations, and other miscellaneous material, including citations andaccident reports by police ofiicers, geologists reports, surveyors andengineers reports, salesmens orders, and this list may be extendedpractically indefinitely.

In the case of traffic ofiicers, the compartments 40 are especiallyadapted for holding books of trafiic tickets and the size of thesecompartments can obviously be varied to conform to sizes of such booksemployed by various municipalities. The lid 10 forms a solid substantialwriting surface and sheets of paper, booklets, cards or the like, arereadily held in desired position on the lid by the spring clip 20. Anypapers filled out can be readily deposited in the case 10, along withwriting materials and other similar small articles where they will bemaintained secure against loss or damage by the wind or weather.

I am aware that many changes may be made and numerous details ofconstruction varied throughout a wide range without departing from theprinciples of this invention and I, therefore, do not propose limitingthe patent granted-hereon otherwise than as necessitated by thepriorart.

I claim as my invention: 7

A clip case comprising a main container in the form ofa rectangularparallelopidedon, a hinged lid for same,

a spring clip at one end' of the lid, locking means at the juxtaposedends of the lid and container, said locking means comprising depressionsin the ends of the case and corresponding protuberances in the end ofthe lid, peripheral flanges on two sides and one end of the lid thecorresponding sides and end of the case being laterally inwardly flangedto conform to said flanges, an additional container in the structure,said additional container being shorter than the main container, apartition in the additional container for separating the same intotwosections, means in the sections of the additional container for readyremoval of objects therefrom, and a further partition in the maincontainer for separating the same into two compartments, oneconsiderably smaller than the other.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,085,259 Gunning June 29, 1937 2,417,879 Merritt Mar. 25, 19472,753,987 Bond July 10, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 7 420,799 Great BritainDec. 7, 1931 381,261 Great Britain Oct. 6, 1932

